Page 42 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

‘What do you mean, no?’

‘We are not giving them the book.’

‘We’re not giving it to them, silly.’ Portia laughed softly. ‘But the work in it is incredible. The range of his interests and the things he – Seb, you can’t refuse to share⁠—’

If anything, Seb’s expression hardened. Portia stared, taken aback.

‘I can and I do. The Academy has no right to Art’s work. None of us do. The dragons are better now. I’ll be taking the book back to the emporium. And I’m not a child, Portia. There are things in there that shouldn’t be meddled with. Not even by you.’ He walked out of the snuggery and Portia stood there, mouth open in shock for a long moment before running after him.

‘But Seb,’ she protested. ‘That’s not fair. There’s so much we can learn from it.’

Her pleas fell on deaf ears. Within half an hour her brother had collected the book and retreated to his shop.

* * *

As evening fell, and life in the castle settled back into its usual routines, Portia finished making all her notes and sent everything she could to Milo. Ensuring the samples would be safe in flight meant a long discussion with Harry and Alyss, but she was confident that all would be well. Her notes had taken the rest of the next day to write up. And all the while the work of caring for the teacup dragons never ceased. Noah was cautious around her, watching her as much as his charges. As if he expected her to jump on him again.

Everyone else had gone home. August was needed at his inn and Seb had yet to return from the emporium. Ophelia had a backlog of work at the library and Iris had taken herself to bed early. Portia had tried to do the same, getting changed into her nightdress and brushing out her long hair, but she couldn’t sleep. She kept playing through the events in the cave. She knew something had happened, that something had changed. She’d felt the touch of the magic that threaded its way through the island.

Noah had told her family that he’d seen nothing. She didn’t know why and a moment to ask him had never presented itself. But she couldn’t ignore her own memories. It hadn’t been a dream.

It wasn’t the only thing haunting her thoughts. There was also the matter of that kiss. That infuriating, distracting kiss. That had definitely not been a dream either. And she couldn’t get it out of her head. And Noah… He was not that easy to corner.

Deciding that it was better to make some practical use of her time, she went to the parlour, hoping to find something to read among Iris’s collection of books. Instead, she found Noah, sitting in front of a dwindling fire, a book in his hand.

He looked up startled as she entered the room.

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, her manners coming to her rescue. ‘I didn’t mean to disturb you. Are you busy?’

It was entirely obvious that he wasn’t. Clearly he too had found sleep impossible. He surged to his feet. Always the gentleman.

‘I was… um, I was studying.’

‘What is it?’ She peered at the book.

He turned to the first page to show her. ‘A book on dragon physiology, an incredibly rare volume that I’d heard of but never had a chance to lay my hands on before. It’s from Elanholm.’ He brushed a finger over a circular symbol beneath the title as lovingly as he had touched her. ‘That’s the royal imprint. A treasure. I found it on the table in the corner.’ He sounded bemused at the idea that it would just be left lying around. When he closed the book he ran his fingers over the spine as if it was a teacup dragon and might purr at him.

‘You’ve been avoiding me.’

That little flush beneath the skin at his open collar told her that he was guilty as charged, but of course he wasn’t about to tell her that. ‘Not at all. What do you need? Is all well with Jade?’

Jade was curled up asleep in the shawl in Portia’s room. She had opened one eye as Portia left, but hadn’t stirred. ‘Yes, she’s fine. Asleep.’

‘Did you hear back from Milo?’

‘Yes. He’s very excited and he’s applying the methodology I suggested to our previous work. He has high hopes.’ His letter had been a scrawl of excitement. This approach was groundbreaking and they both knew it. But right now… right now she needed to talk to Noah while she had him to herself. ‘I wanted to ask you about the cave. About what happened down there. There wasn’t time earlier. When I woke up, they said you brought me back here but that you hadn’t seen anything down there?’

He put the book down on the side table and looked at her like he’d been dreading this.

‘That’s what happened.’ He looked entirely sincere.

‘But the light, Noah, the threads…’ Her voice trailed off when he shook his head.

‘You ran into the back of the cave while I was securing the flowers. When I found you, you were on the ground, unconscious. I’m sorry, Portia. I didn’t see anything.’

She pursed her lips together, her mood deflating. She couldn’t have imagined it, could she? Portia prided herself on being entirely rational. This made no sense at all. The magic of Starling Island was a myth, and before this she would have sworn to it herself.

But it had felt so real.